But not all was about wine during our trip. We had the chance to continue this experience and have some rest time in a beautiful small village in La Rioja, Daroca.

This village has only 48 inhabitants and there is not much besides a restaurant and a rural house, both using the name “Moncalvillo”. But the proximity with many attractions of La Rioja (only 20 minutes from Logroño) makes it a perfect place to spend some days.

We went to have dinner to the restaurant Venta Montcalvillo. This restaurant has recently received a Michelin star. This star is an award given by Michelin Guide. This guide is the oldest and best known European hotel and restaurant guide. You can find out more information about this guide on Wikipedia.

Dinner was great and I must tell you that they even closed the restaurant for us. And we were served by only two people, the chef and the sommelier. The two persons are brothers and together they own the place. Dinner consisted in 4 different dishes, each dish matches with a different kind of wine. The dishes were cooked with local ingredients, so it had a real La Rioja taste. But the best part of the dinner was that each time a dish was brought the chef explained us how it was cooked and the reason why they have chosen that combination of ingredients and that specific wine.

When the dinner finished we were invited to the “cigar room”. The restaurant’s owners are using this room as a Smocking club. And here, we can taste some good cigars and alcoholic drinks. I think it was the first time I regretted that I’m not smocking. The most interesting of this room is the clock that is always showing the same time: 20:20. The chef told us that who enters in this room must forget about time, don’t rush and take the time to enjoy a good cigar and drink.

We also had a surprise during our dinner: two desserts. ¡Yes! Right as you read here. And even in the experience in the “cigar room” was fool of surprises. But I can’t tell you if you want to find out you have to go there.

After dinner we were lucky to can rest and relax in an amazing rural house. It is incredible to get in this warm house with fireplace when outside is so cold!!

This house is also unique, not only because of the great view, but also for the colour of its rooms. Each room is painted in a different colour.

On morning we woke up with a great breakfast prepared by Maite, the owner of the house.

I recommend you to see this interview in Spanish with Maite even if you are not a Spanish speackers beacause you can see part of the house’s interior. This video was published on turismoenlarioja Youtube channel.

I also recommned you this entry and fotos that Tirso Maldonado published in travbuddy: